Homer Alaska - Sports

Story last updated at
5:49 PM on
Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Mariners sail past Skyview Panthers

Homer faces Kenai in Saturday homecoming

By Wesley Remmer
Morris News Service - Alaska

Homer's Tayler Downes bobbles the ball under pressure from Skyview's Richard Reynolds in the third quarter Friday at Skyview High School. Downes recovered his fumble after Reynolds brought him down. (Morris News Service-Alaska)

On a night styles clashed, smash-mouth football reigned supreme over an aerial attack.

The victory sets up a huge game for this Saturday between Homer and Kenai Central, which defeated Houston 38-3 last week to improve to 4-2 overall and 3-0 in the NLC.

Saturday is Homer's Homecoming game.

The Week 7 contest will go a long way toward determining the NLC's No. 2 seed for the medium-schools playoffs, a position coveted by both the Mariners and Kardinals.

Homer Head Coach Camron Wyatt said following last week's game the Mariners haven't beat the Kardinals in more than 20 years.

In last week's game against Skyview, Dyllan Day had two rushing touchdowns and Travis Smith added another for the Mariners, who let a 16-point lead slip to three before improving to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the conference heading into a Week 7 showdown with Kenai Central.

"I'm excited for these boys, but I want them to jell," Homer coach Camron Wyatt said. "We only have so many games left. We have to jell soon."

Homer had everything working in the first half, but let Skyview back into the game over the final 24 minutes.

Day scored in the first quarter and Smith took a handoff 69 yards in the second to give the Mariners a 16-0 lead at the break.

Then, Skyview came to life.

Albert White, who caught six passes for 161 yards after missing the previous two games with a groin injury, cut the lead to 16-6 with 2:01 to play in the third. The senior took a pass next to his own sideline, sidestepped a Homer defender and raced 73 yards for his only score of the game.

Less than three minutes into the fourth, running back Jasen Suonvieri took a handoff up the middle and cut between a swarm of Homer defenders to score from 35 yards out and trim the lead to 16-13.

Homer then chewed four minutes off the clock but had to punt the ball back to Skyview, pinning the Panthers on their own 8-yard line.

Skyview quarterback Jordan Jones' final completion of the night gave his squad breathing room as the senior connected with White for a 33-yard gain.

On the next play, however, Homer's Robin Glosser intercepted a pass on the right side.

The Mariners sealed the game when Day scored from 13 yards out at the 1:01 mark. Not that they impressed themselves by nearly squandering the game.

"They came out pumped in the second half and we were way too comfortable with our lead," said Day, who carried the ball 20 times for 184 yards. "We were all waiting to settle in, but it didn't happen for a while and they started playing well."

Homer dominated possession, running 56 plays to Skyview's 35.

The Mariners took to the air just four times, completing two passes for 8 yards. Skyview's Jones, meanwhile, threw it 19 times for 208 yards  188 in the second half.

Yet the senior was intercepted twice and also had a touchdown called back in the first half because of a penalty.

Wyatt turned to Day, Smith, Tayler Downes and Hoss Frank, who had 20 carries for 79 yards. The Homer coach said his team must believe in its run-first system and execute at all times  not just in spurts.

"It's about confidence, it's about believing in each other  then executing," Wyatt said. "You can see great moments, but we have to get to that consistency."

"We're just going to have to play really focused or it's not going to be a very fun game for us," Day said of the upcoming Kenai Central contest "We can beat anybody if we play our game."